Rockies Classics Part 4
The 12,000ers
by Ptor Spricenieks


On June 1st this past spring, my girlfriend Karin and I took advantage of some fabulous weather and the spectacular conditions in the Rockies to shred the south face of the North Twin. Skiing the Columbia Icecap outlier is not a huge deal in itself, if you have the weather. For myself however, the third highest peak in the Canadian Rockies was something I had been wanting to do for some time as it was the remaining 12,000er that I had yet to ski.

There are only 4 summits in the Canadian Rockies that pierce the 12000ft. line in the sky. They are Yuh-Hai-Has-Kun (aka Mt Robson), Mt Columbia, North Twin and Mt Clemenceau in that order. The latter 3 are regularly done ski descents and are often guided. Yuh-Hai-Has-Kun is one of the most difficult summits in the Rockies to ski and is definately the crux to the 12,000ers. It was also the first 12,000er that I skied back in 1995. Troy Jungen and I made it’s second ski descent and the first ski-descent of it’s royal north face.

Mt Clemenceau was the second 12,000er I skied while on a Clemenceau/Columbia Icecap traverse in 1998. On that occaision, I descended the west face after traversing the ridge southward underneath the cornice line from the summit.

Mt Columbia was the third, having skied it via the skiers right of the South Face, again on another Clemenceau/Columbia traverse with Pierre Bernier. Skiing Columbia brought great satisfaction, not only from the perfect day and conditions, but because it was my fourth attempt at skiing it.

Finally this June, going to the North Twin seemed like the perfect thing to do with my sweetie. The North Twin is actually quite a few kilometers back from the parking lot at Sunwapta and there is the daunting exposure of seracs from the Snow Dome as you ascend the Athabasca Glacier. The pressure was high and the temps warm making for perfect camping conditions. On our ski-day, the temperatures climbed further still and we skied the South Face in creamy corn at 10am arcing high speed turns and giggling.
The summit view from the North Twin is spectacular. We even witnessed a massive serac fall on the South Twin. Unfortunately, Karin’s camera bonked on the summit and we were unable to get skiing pictures.

To my knowledge, this is the first ski descent of the 12,000ers of the Canadian Rockies by one individual (cross referenced with Chic Scott). Yuh-Hai-Has-Kun awaits another descent. It is surprising that I have not heard of any attempts to ski it recently despite there being a high probability of good conditions this fall and past spring. (Correct me if I’m wrong!). Otherwise, there still remains the 11,000ers to be skied by someone which will present many challenges and exciting new descents in order to accomplish someday. The Rockies rock, eh!!!